SWAT Teams From Across The Nation Turn To A Local Tactical Team Like No Other

WBAL's Scott Wykoff's feature that takes you behind the scenes for an up close and personal look at the real world SWAT/military operations training going on in Harford County with an elite local tactical unit Download This File

Rob Weinhold (left) and Frank Barile (right) on the range at HP White Laboratory in Harford County (WBAL Photo by Scott Wykoff)

Members of the Fallston Group's elite tactical unit protect their identities for security purposes (WBAL Photo by Scott Wykoff)

During a drill at the HP White range in Harford County, tactical firearms instructor Frank Barile gains entry to a classroom who there is an active shooter (WBAL Photo by Scott Wykoff)

Fallston Group Principal Rob Weinhold talks with WBAL's Scott Wykoff about the highly skilled tactical training going on in Harford County Download This File

The Fallston Group's elite tactical team trains clients from across the nation at the range at the legendary HP White Lab in Harford County (WBAL Photo by Scott Wykoff)

Rob Weinhold explains how this training can help not only SWAT teams but also organizations, schools and faith-based groups Download This File

An M4 rifle used in training by the elite SWAT team In Harford County (WBAL Photo by Scott Wykoff)

The "active shooter" room at the HP White range where this SWAT team trains (WBAL Photo by Scott Wykoff)

Tactical firearms instructor Frank Barile is retired Baltimore County SWAT officer who was on the Palczynski operation (WBAL Photo by Scott Wykoff)

With some groups and organizations looking for guidance and training in the wake of recent shootings at schools, theatres and malls across the country, an elite tactical unit is engaged in real world SWAT training on a daily basis right here in Harford County.

The unit is made up of the "best-of-the-best" with a wide range of law enforcement and military backgrounds.

"I would say the gentleman you are training with today are some of the most highly skilled, proficient tacticians that I know in the law enforcement and military community," Fallston Group Principal Rob Weinhold told WBAL's Scott Wykoff while he was "embedded" for a day of training recently with the elite tactical unit based in the Baltimore-area.

"In light of the recent incidents in Newtown, at Columbine in the past, Virginia Tech and a number of other active shooter situations, it really leaves people with the central question of what do I do if something happens," says Weinhold. "But the fact of the matter is many, many organizations are grossly ill prepared to handle a situation like that."

So he says they work with organizations to conduct assessment to ultimately make sure they have the right protocols in place and then train their folks to know exactly what to do.

"We create what is called organizational muscle memory," says Weinhold. "We're able to work with organizations to make sure that in the event of something very, very emergent happening everybody understands their role, exactly what to do and with the ultimate goal of saving lives."

Weinhold says this team provides tactical training that promotes enhanced safety and security to clients that span the gamut from elite law enforcement SWAT teams across the nation to schools, corporations and faith based organizations from far and wide.

"I think most people would understand it as SWAT training," explains Weinhold. "But really it is tactical entry, it's extraction, it's how to handle and train for an ultimately resolve an active shooter situation should one occur."

He says these kinds of situations can happen in any building anywhere in the world.

"The good news is we have wonderful and very, very tactically oriented people who train here from military backgrounds, law enforcement backgrounds and other backgrounds who can help citizens who would ultimately need their services," says Weinhold looking out over the range where the Fallston Group's tactical team trains.

"We are at a facility called HP White (Laboratory)," Weinhold told WBAL's Scott Wykoff as he got an up-close and personal look at the elite tactical training unit at work just off of Route 1 near the Harford County Landfill ."HP White is a facility with a tremendous amount of history in terms of ballistic testing and other related products and services.They also have a range facility which is tactical in nature so you have individuals from the military and with law enforcement backgrounds and other various backgrounds who come out here to train in a tactical sense."

The Fallston Group's law enforcement and military experts from across the Baltimore-area are considered by many to be some of the most highly trained, disciplined professionals in the field.

The Bel Air-based firm provides assessment, planning, preparedness, training and response strategies for law enforcement SWAT teams from across the country in addition to clients looking to secure a corporate setting or determining the proper safety standards and training for schools and faith-based organizations.

"A tremendous resource in Harford County," says Weinhold, both a former Baltimore City cop and executive with Ripken Baseball, in describing the training that this elite tactical unit provides."The fact of the matter is that in this day and age there certainly needs to be some equipping as it relates to the tactical services whether it be in a faith-based community, a private sector entity and/or academia."

Under the watchful eye of tactical firearms instructor Frank Barile, a retired Baltimore County SWAT officer who was on the Palczynski operation, WBAL's Scott Wykoff saw the Fallston Group's SWAT training team drill in several scenarios including response to an active shooter situation, the protection of a dignitary or corporate executive and a shooting inside a classroom.

He also saw the tactical unit train in hand to hand combat in addition to firearm training on the range at HP White.

"This is a heavily armed SWAT team and they are well trained to do these sort of things," said Barile, who has a military background and who also played a lead role in the Palczynski operation while a member of the Baltimore County Police SWAT Team."I was designated as Ladder Team 1, a designated shooter, and my objective was to make entry through a window and neutralize the suspect as soon as possible before he could hurt or kill any of the hostages that remained."

Barile works now with some of the most respected former military and law enforcement tacticians in the business.

"They have trained within ranger training, SWAT teams, other special forces backgrounds and they are the most highly trained, sharp people I know anywhere in the world," says Fallston Group principal Rob Weinhold.

Tactical Firearms Instructor Frank Barile

The Fallston Group's Frank Barile holds a B.S. degree in Law Enforcement from Towson University and has been a tactical firearms instructor for over 25 years. Prior to his law enforcement career, Frank served time in both airborne infantry and military police units within the US Army. He is a certified US Army instructor and firearms instructor, who graduated from the prestigious US Secret Service Firearms Instructor Training Course (FITC). During his law enforcement career, he was assigned to the Special Operations Division within a large metropolitan police department as a member of an elite SWAT team. Cross trained in both counter sniper and entry tactics, Frank distinguished himself as both an operator and tactical instructor. He has received CQB training from elite military and tactical law enforcement units around the United States. Frank is a graduate of the Advanced Hostage Rescue Training Course at Camp Pendleton, California hosted by the world renowned LAPD SWAT.He has real world operational experiences and has worked alongside the elite FBI Hostage Rescue Team during a nationally televised hostage barricade in March 2000. Recognized as a National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA) certified Active Shooter Response Instructor, he has trained local, state and federal law enforcement personnel in non-traditional police tactics. Frank is certified as a defensive tactics instructor trained in the Israeli Krav Maga system. He has consulted with governmental agencies on the proper implementation of the National Incident Command Structure during Department Of Homeland Security (DHS) exercise evaluation programs. He is the recipient of the police Medal of Honor, the highest award a law enforcement officer can receive during his career. Currently, Frank continues to serve as an adjunct military combat instructor at Fort Dix, New Jersey.